[casi] Washington prepares war against Iraq

["John Smith" <johncsmith@DELETETHISbtinternet.com>]

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Three very useful articles from issue 12 in 2002 of the Militant.

Washington prepares war against Iraq
Bloody assault shores up U.S. domination in Afghanistan
Hunger strikers demand right to wear turban


Source: www.themilitant.com


Washington prepares war against Iraq

BY JACK WILLEY
As Washington wraps up its bloody aerial and ground assault in the eastern mountains of 
Afghanistan--annihilating pockets of Taliban and al Qaeda fighters along with some civilians 
there--Bush administration officials are working to build a case to mount a military assault on 
Iraq.

U.S. president George Bush, having lost the momentum from September 11 in justifying military 
assaults abroad, has been pounding away on the theme of not allowing certain governments in the 
world to possess weapons of mass destruction.

"In preventing the spread of weapons of mass destruction, there is no margin for error, and no 
chance to learn from mistakes," Bush said in a March 11 speech in Washington. "Our coalition must 
act deliberately, but inaction is not an option." Bush added that his administration "is now 
consulting with friends and allies about this greatest of dangers."

Articles in the big-business press, such as the International Herald Tribune , pointed out the 
remark was a "reference to the trip by Vice President Richard Cheney to several Gulf and Middle 
Eastern countries where he is understood to be seeking support for a campaign against Iraq."

In this context the disclosure over the same days of a supposedly classified Pentagon "nuclear 
posture review" raised Washington's belligerent stance in the world and brought a sharp rebuke from 
a the governments of China, Iran, Iraq, and several other countries. The document poses the 
possible use of nuclear weapons by U.S. imperialism against seven countries in response to their 
use of, or to prevent them from using, weapons of mass destruction.

Although initially portrayed as a big departure for Washington, more sober press reports pointed 
out the policy has firm roots in the previous Clinton administration. As with other aspects of U.S. 
government moves since September 11, the nuclear posture review is part of the acceleration of 
trends under way long before the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Lining up 'coalition' for Iraq war
In his visit to London and seven countries in the Middle East, Cheney has sought to shore up 
support for an imperialist military assault on Iraq. The London Guardian reported March 10 that 
Washington "has asked Britain to draw up plans for 25,000 of this country's troops to join a U.S. 
task force to overthrow Saddam Hussein," the largest number of troops ever requested in peacetime. 
British troops would be part of a 250,000-strong ground force to invade Iraq, in the case of 
full-scale war to topple the regime, the paper stated.

In a manner reminiscent of the buildup to the U.S.-led 1991 slaughter in Iraq, Washington, under 
the banner of the United Nations, is cynically offering "negotiations" with the Hussein government. 
In this case, Washington is pressing draconian demands for "inspections" of weapons of mass 
destruction that would put the regime at the mercy of imperialism.

The Wall Street Journal on March 8 cautioned Washington against relying too much on the 
negotiations tactic. Pressuring Iraq to allow inspectors "raises the question of what will happen 
if Saddam Hussein says yes," and "buys...more time to acquire a nuclear bomb." A senior Bush 
administration official said the previous day that the push for inspectors would be a trap unless 
it is "the kind of go anywhere, any time sort of inspection regime."

Hans Blix, chairman of the UN arms inspection commission, said, "For the credibility of future 
inspection it is important that there are no sanctuaries and that access is without any delay that 
might permit the removal of evidence."

As UN officials claim they are pursuing a "peaceful" resolution, Washington is preparing for war. 
In the previous 1991 six-week air assault and 100-hour ground war, more than 150,000 Iraqis were 
murdered and millions left homeless by U.S.-led forces.

Washington is using a pro-imperialist wing of the leadership of the Kurdish oppressed national 
minority to legitimize its war moves. The U.S. rulers have enlisted the Kurdish Democratic Party 
and other groups that function under the cover of the U.S.- and British-enforced "no fly zone" in 
the north of Iraq. The Guardian reported that U.S. special forces are in the area training militias 
in preparation for an assault.

The Bush administration has offered to finance the construction of a radio transmitter in an 
attempt to foment resistance against the government. The Iraqi National Congress, a U.S.-backed 
group that also operates under UN protection, has supported the proposal and requests it be built 
on Iraqi soil.

The Guardian also reported that 5,000 U.S. armored vehicles that had been mothballed in Kuwait 
since the Persian Gulf War are now being overhauled.

The king of Jordan, a staunch U.S. ally, publicly cautioned Washington during Cheney's tour. A 
spokesperson for the monarch said the king would tell the U.S. vice president that "any attack on 
Iraq will be devastating for the whole region. It will be devastating in terms of spreading 
instability. It will be politically and economically devastating. It will be too much to take. With 
the Israeli-Palestinian situation the way it is, opening another violent front is not good for this 
region."

Nuclear posture review
The Pentagon's Nuclear Posture Review has received backing from both Democratic and Republican 
politicians. The report picked out seven nations among many that Washington claims have or are 
developing weapons of mass destruction: China, Iran, Iraq, Libya, north Korea, Russia and Syria.

National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice said that the purpose of the report is for Washington to 
send "a very strong signal to anyone who might try to use weapons of mass destruction against the 
United States that they'd be met with a devastating response."

Democratic senator Joseph Lieberman gave his stamp of approval to the policy move on CNN's "Late 
Edition" program. "Frankly, I don't mind some of these renegade nations [thinking] twice about the 
willingness of the United States to take action to defend our people and our values and our 
allies," he said.

Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, tried to allay concerns that other 
big-business politicians raised, stressing the report is "not a plan."

"This preserves for the president all the options that a president would want to have in case this 
country or our friends and allies were attacked with weapons of mass destruction, be they nuclear, 
biological, chemical, or for that matter, high explosives," he said.

One recommendation in the report is the development of a new generation of nuclear weapons that 
have a lower yield and produce less nuclear fallout. Bombs that can penetrate deep bunkers are also 
a development priority, he said.

British, Australian, and Italian government spokespeople supported Washington's latest move. In 
Japan--the only country to be hit by nuclear weapons--government officials were largely silent.

Government representatives from the countries named in the report immediately condemned the threat. 
A spokesman for the Chinese government, Sun Yuxi, told the official state paper that "China, like 
other countries, is deeply shocked" to be in the group of seven and demanded an explanation by the 
U.S. government. The Russian foreign minister made similar remarks.

A report in the Washington Post reminded its readers that the basic outlines of the nuclear policy 
were developed under the Clinton administration. During the Gulf War U.S. president Bush wrote to 
Saddam Hussein saying any Iraqi use of biological or chemical weapons against U.S. force would be 
met with the "strongest possible response," a threat widely interpreted as use of nuclear weapons.

Several years later Clinton's defense secretary, William Perry, said that "if some nation were to 
attack the United States with chemical weapons, then they would have to fear the consequences of a 
response from any weapon in our inventory. We could make a devastating response without the use of 
nuclear weapons, but we would not forswear the possibility."

The article details Clinton-era directives for the Pentagon to target small nations "seeking 
weapons of mass destruction," including constant updates on facilities in Iran, Iraq, and north 
Korea. One official knowledgeable of the Clinton directives and the current report told the Post 
that "nothing has changed" from the Clinton administration and the report sent to Congress in early 
January.



Bloody assault shores up U.S. domination in Afghanistan

BY JACK WILLEY
The continued effort toward launching an attack on Iraq takes place as U.S.-led forces wrap up 
their "Operation Anaconda" mission in Afghanistan. Launched March 2, the operation has focused on a 
70-square-mile battle area. That region has been pounded every day by a concentration of air power 
unprecedented in the Afghan war. U.S. forces have flown long-range bombers and tactical fighter 
jets, dropping hundreds of bombs, including 500-ton bombs into cave entrances, sucking out all the 
oxygen and suffocating anyone trapped inside.

More than 1,500 U.S.-led troops from Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Norway, and the 
government of Afghanistan have surrounded the area and slowly moved in to cut off all supplies and 
escape routes of fighters hiding in the mountains.

After eight U.S. soldiers were killed in combat, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld arrogantly 
stated that Taliban and al Qaeda forces sustained "much larger numbers of killed and wounded, and 
there will be many more."

Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, warned that al Qaeda forces face certain 
doom. "It seems they have chosen to stay and fight to the last, and we hope to accommodate them," 
he said.

Cannot win war from 35,000 feet high
For the first time since Washington's post-September 11 bombing assault began, U.S. troops are in 
the forefront of ground combat, albeit after a brutal bombing assault and under the cover of air 
power. In addition to the eight troops killed in combat, dozens have been injured in what has been 
the fiercest ground combat U.S. forces have seen since their assault on Somalia in 1993.

At each step in the war and imperialist takeover of Afghanistan, ruling-class spokespeople have 
stated that the U.S. forces are far from finished in their effort to eliminate all organized 
resistance to Washington in order to set up an imperialist protectorate.

Lieut. Gen. Bernard Trainor, a retired Marine commander, told the Washington Post that while the 
tactical goal is to eradicate the al Qaeda forces, the even more significant strategic goal may be 
to show the world the depth of U.S. resolve.

"It gives lie to the belief that Americans can only fight from 35,000 feet," he said.

After reports of the first U.S. casualties, Rumsfeld said, "This will not be the last such 
operation in Afghanistan. I think we have to expect that there are other sizable pockets, that 
there will be other battles of this type."

Meanwhile, a reporter for London's Financial Times wrote that in the villages he has visited near 
the battle he found virtually no support among peasants and workers for the imperialist assault. 
Eyeing the bombing nearby, one peasant told the reporter, "For God's sake, please tell your 
Americans to spare our children!"

Local Afghans adamantly told the reporter that the people in the mountains were former Taliban 
supporters who were trying to simply hide out from the Americans. "Everyone was a Taliban," one 
said. "If they bomb Saifurahman," the leader in the area who headed up the group under U.S. fire, 
"why don't they bomb the ministries? All the bureaucrats in Kabul were Taliban too."

People in the area said that Saifurahman had sent an emissary to the local governor, inviting him 
to inspect Shah-i-kot, and was awaiting an answer when the imperialists and their allies launched 
their attack.



Hunger strikers demand right to wear turban

BY MAURICE WILLIAMS
Some 300 prisoners are currently incarcerated at the U.S. naval base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Most 
were seized by the U.S. military during its assault on Afghanistan. About 200 participated in a 
hunger strike that was sparked when guards stripped an inmate of his turban February 27.

The inmates are held in chicken wire cages, exposed to rain and sun, and are provided with one-inch 
thick foam mats as beds. Some have tested positive for tuberculosis. Press reports indicate they 
have had their beards forcibly shaved off.

"We have no intention of making it comfortable," said Brig. Gen. Michael Lehnert, commander of the 
detention camp dubbed Camp X-Ray.

The U.S. government has barred the media from making contact with prisoners. The only way military 
officials allow journalists to get near detainees is through touring the facilities in a van.

One detainee who is being held in an area reserved for "troublemakers" was able to shout a message 
in English to reporters from CNN as they passed by the area in a van. "We are on a hunger strike. 
We've been on a hunger strike for 14 days and nobody cares," he yelled out. "We need the world to 
know about us. We are innocent here in this cage. We have no legal rights, nothing. So can somebody 
know about us? Can you tell the world about us?"

The Washington Post reported March 11 that the U.S. government has secretly arrested and deported 
dozens of people from other countries who it deemed have links to alleged terrorists. U.S. 
officials have bypassed extradition procedures and legal formalities.

According to the Post, some of these countries include Egypt and Jordan where they can be 
"subjected to interrogation tactics--including torture and threats to families that are illegal in 
the United States." In some cases U.S. spies remain closely involved in the interrogations, the 
paper said.

"After September 11, these sorts of movements have been occurring all the time," an unnamed U.S. 
diplomat told the Post. "It allows us to get information from terrorists in a way we can't do on 
U.S. soil."




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